Megapack Update

After just over a year of radio-silence, Tesla has finally showed us a peek at their Megapack production Megafactory in Lathrop California.

On the 25th, Tesla uploaded a video on their Linked In page, which is the very first time we've seen anything from this facility since it broke ground in September 2021.

The video shows a complete and functioning production facility - quite a feat after just a year. Of course, it's a promotional video, and we don't have a lot of data on just HOW operational the Megafactory is; but sources are reporting that Tesla has the capacity to turn out 25 megapack units per day.

For reference, a single megapack in its 4-hour configuration has a capacity of over 3870 kWh. That's about the equivalent of about 51 Model Ys with their 75 kWh capacity. So putting out 25 Megapacks is the equivalent of churning out over 1200 Model Ys - not bad for a factory barely a year old.

Up until now, all Megapacks and Powerwall units were produced at Tesla's GigaNevada site. But this meant the company was only able to produce about 4 gWh of energy storage products over the last year - which is way behind Elon Musk's aim for 40 gWh per year.

So, Tesla began ramping up hiring for their Megafactory back in September, with over 37 job openings appearing on their site around that time. 

And as usual, this seems to have been part of the plan. Over just the last year, we've seen new Megapack projects starting up - or being planned - in Hawaii, Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada. Existing projects in Australia were also proving their worth, and aside from the new facilities across the United States, other countries were starting to take notice.

Or in Slovenia's case; start to expand.

The eastern European country is part of a massive energy grid - stretching from Turkey to Norway. This grid is completely interconnected to its neighbours, so any failure along this line would result in failures across the whole service.

But, back in 2019, a local energy company called NGEN began setting up little Megapack hubs in an effort to decentralise the whole thing. It was the first grid-scale battery backup of this type in the Balkans.

And it seems to have worked well, because a second, larger project followed in 2020, and now NGEN has just launched a third.

In total, the company will have about 60 MWh of capacity to help that grid out.

But this is what the Megapack is good for - supporting existing grids and helping decentralise the load so a blackout doesn't leave everyone in the dark. It's why Southern Australia is doing so well after they got their system working with a Virtual Power Plant program. And why Hawaii finally kicked coal power. The demand for these systems is really growing fast.

So, with the goal to produce 40 MWh per year out of the Megafactory in California, Tesla could help set up two or three major battery farm projects per year - and free up valuable space at GigaNevada for other projects. Combine that with powerwalls and solar for individual homes, and that's a recipe for robust energy grids across the world!

We definitely want to see more from this Megafactory soon.